Chad Brown: Chronicling the Former Seattle Seahawk

My second installment of my series chronicling the careers of former Seahawks follows linebacker Chad Brown. Brown was a staple of several Seahawk defenses, earning two of his three Pro Bowl selections as a Seattle Seahawk.

Brown was selected in the second round of the 1993 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He won a national championship at Colorado during the 1990 season.

Brown made an immediate impact playing in the Steelers 3-4 defense. One of his best seasons to date came in the Steelers Super Bowl season in 1996, when he recorded 81 tackles and 13 sacks. 

He also recorded two interceptions, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.   Brown was selected to his first All-Pro team in 1996.

Brown played in his only Super Bowl in 1996 when his Steelers faced off against the Dallas Cowboys. Pittsburgh feel short, 27-17. 

After the Super Bowl, Brown became a free agent. Brown was widely regarded as the best defensive free agent on the market, and he wasn’t a free agent for very long. The Seahawks flew Brown in on the first day of free agency and he agreed to a six-year contract with a $7 million signing bonus.

Then-head coach Dennis Erickson made sure that Brown didn’t leave Seattle. “We knew if we didn't sign him today, we didn't think we'd be able to sign him," Erickson said in an article by the Seattle Times dated February 15, 1997.

Randy Mueller, the Seahawks vice president, stated in the same article, “There’s no question this is the best signing we’ve ever had.”

Brown put his own stamp on a Seahawks defense in his first season with the team, recording 104 tackles and 6.5 sacks. He also recorded four fumble recoveries, two of them for touchdowns.

The next two seasons saw Brown go to back-to-back Pro Bowls in 1998 and 1999. He was also selected to his second All-Pro team in 1998.

He recorded 140 tackles and 7.5 sacks in 1998. During the 1999 season, he recorded 117 tackles and five and a half sacks.

The next four years of Brown’s career saw him average 84 tackles and seven sacks each season. He played only eight games in 2002 after he was placed on injured reserve in November due to an injury he sustained in his right foot.

Brown’s career slowly began to nosedive after the 2003 season. In 2004, he played in only seven games and recorded only 37 tackles. In the offseason, the Seahawks signed Jaime Sharper to a five-year, $17.5 million deal.

Tim Ruskell, who was hired to replace Bob Whitsett, commented on Brown’s situation in another Seattle Times article dated April 20, 2005:

“Chad's been a great player for the Seahawks and done great things. We'd love to keep him, have him end his career as a Seahawk. He's been a hard-working guy, a warrior on the field. But as you know, there's more to it than that."

“If it comes to pass that he's released, our door will still be open if he tests the waters and doesn't find anything out there," Whitsett said. "He knows that."

After his release from the Seahawks, Brown signed with the New England Patriots to replace injured linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who suffered a minor stroke in the offseason.

Brown played in 15 games for the Patriots, recording only 39 tackles. He was cut by the Patriots before the start of the 2006 season.